Suffering from shortness of breath? Here’s everything you need to know

An average adult takes about 14 breaths per minute, provided he/she is at rest. Shortness of breath is generally experienced after a heavy workout or at high altitudes, but the sudden onset of breathing issues could indicate underlying problematic condition. The medical term for such sudden shortness of breath is Dyspnea.

Symptoms

Your lungs do not get enough air in dyspnea and like every other medical condition, this can be acute or chronic. Some of the major symptoms are:

• Tight feeling in the chest
• Issue in deep breathing
• Sudden breathing issues in daily activities

Causes

Not everything related to breathing issues is about lungs. Dyspnea can be experienced by a person who does not have an aligned Body Mass Index (BMI), which can be fixed with regular workout. However, it is equally possible that dyspnea points to a serious condition. Some of the most common causes of this condition are:

• Asthma
• Pulmonary edema
• Pulmonary hypertension
• Choking in breathing passage
• Allergic reactions

In selective cases, dyspnea can be caused due to extreme reasons like:

• Hernia
• Tuberculosis
• Heart Failure
• Collapsed lungs
• Heavy loss of blood

There can be multiple triggers for the onset of dyspnea. Areas in the vicinity of industrial factories have pollutants like fumes, chemicals, etc., which aggravate this condition. Dyspnea is even associated with asthma. The exposure of pollutants like smoke and pollen to asthmatic people can initiate shortness of breath.

Diagnosis

According to pulmonary specialists at AMRI Hospital Kolkata, the primary approach is a full body checkup, accompanied by changes in eating habits or environment.

Since it is not confirmed that only lungs are involved, CT Images and chest X-rays are taken to observe the involvement of other body parts. Dyspnea can easily involve heart or chest issues.

The degree of dyspnea is determined by the patient’s description of the event, frequency and medical reports.

Treatment

Extensive examination and treatment is done by a pulmonologist – a doctor with specialization in lungs and respiratory system.

As the cause and intensity of dyspnea varies from patient to patient, so does the method of treatment. There are three methods, which are usually used by doctors:

Medication

Medications are directly dependent on the cause of dyspnea. Specific sources like pneumonia are treated with antibiotics, while steroids are sometimes applicable on patients with asthma. Other general courses include anti-anxiety drugs and anti-inflammatory drugs.

Breathing patterns

There are rehabilitation programs, which teach breathing techniques like pursed lip breathing to COPD patients.

External supply

This is a rare case, but sometimes oxygen level in the blood is low. Machines like oxygen concentrator are prescribed to patients for maintaining the blood-oxygen ratio.

Shortness of breath (Dyspnea) is an issue that needs immediate medical attention. The cure to this is solely dependent on its nature, intensity and root cause, but there is always a scope for improvement, and it can be minimized to a prominent extent over a certain period of time.

SOURCE: www.4exercisemats.com